“The Alphabet Song,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Musically, they are the same notes.”
“No, they’re not.” Cara’s nose wrinkled, but Declan nodded slowly.
“He’s right, they are.”
“It’s a four-digit code, you said. All of those words are too many letters.” Cara set the empty glass down. “I don’t think Dad even knew how to read music.”
“A few years ago, Dad wanted to learn to play the piano. I teased him about it, but he told me he’d learned on the computer. It was learning by numbers. Could that be it?” Declan’s eyes blazed with excitement, and a laugh escaped. “Could it be as simple as a learn-by-numbers song?”
“It could be,” Wes acknowledged. “If he didn’t have any training in cryptography.”
Cara stayed quiet. The theory made sense. Their father liked puzzles, Sudoku, things like that, but he wouldn’t have been able to come up with something complicated, as sick as he was, on the streets of Dublin. Her chest constricted. She had wanted to believe that he chose the snow globe and its song because of his nickname for her.
“That has to be it, then.” Declan typed into his phone and then his face folded. “Damn! There are several four-note measures. How do we know which one?”
“Wouldn’t he have chosen the first? Unless he practiced it so much, he memorized it.”
“That’s a good point. Most likely, he would have only remembered the first set, 1,1,5,5.” He exhaled. “We still have a problem though. Even if we’re right, the only person who can access it is Courtney. Even if we could get a fake ID for her, she was just there. They’d remember.” Declan put his hands on his hips.
Cara’s shoulders slumped. They were so close! If Courtney had the snow globe, it was only a matter of time before she discovered the significance of the song.
Wes was staring at her jaw, and Cara self-consciously lifted her hand to the spot. “I know you hate hearing it, but you look a bit like her.”
“Hardly enough to pass for her,” Declan scoffed. “Courtney has at least two inches on Cara, not to mention more than twenty years.”
Wes’s gaze lingered on Cara.What was he thinking?
“Those things can be fixed,” Wes said.
Understanding dawned on her. “The hair color is a little different. I could color it, and if it’s raining, wear a scarf. Some colored contacts—” She was thoughtful, thinking through what would be necessary.
“Cara, you aren’t a forty-eight-year-old woman. It won’t work, and not only would it alert Courtney that we were trying to get access, you could also get arrested for using false identification. We don’t even know if the code is correct!”
“Is that a crime?”
Declan paused. “Probably?”
“I think I could do it. I’d need to find a theatrical supply house, but that shouldn’t be too big of an obstacle with all the theater here. As much as I hate to admit it, Courtney looks amazing for her age. It would be a simple enough aging process, similar to what we used on the set. I could use pads to make the cheekbones.” She made a face. “The scarf around my neck helps. Necks are tricky to make convincing because the skin is so thin the makeup tends to crack quickly.”
“What are you talking about?” Declan looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language.
Wes grinned. “Cara’s great. She could do it.”
“This isn’t playing dress up with makeup, Cara. This is serious!” Declan’s voice was irritated. “I’ll think of something.” He typed out something on his phone.
“Declan, I’m not playing with makeup. This is what I do for a living now.”
“I thought you were an assistant.” He didn’t bother to look up from the device.
Frustration surged through her. What was it going to take for him to take her seriously? But before she could retort, Wes was on his feet shoving his own phone in front of Declan.
“She did these months ago. Self-taught. And since then, she has been training on the movie set. She’s very good!”
Declan took the phone from him and swiped a few times, raising surprised eyes to her.
“You did this? Really?”
“From TrekCon,” Wes explained, taking his phone back.
